Stephen Szu Shiang Chang[1] (15 August 1918 – 16 December 1996)[2] was a Chinese-born American food scientist who was involved in the research of lipids and flavors in food, including the development of technology transfer between the United States and Taiwan.
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Transcription
What is reality, knowledge, the meaning of life? Big topics you might tackle figuratively explainIing existence as a journey down a road or across an ocean, a climb, a war, a book, a thread, a game, a window of opportunity, or an all-too-short-lived flicker of flame. 2,400 years ago, one of history's famous thinkers said life is like being chained up in a cave, forced to watch shadows flitting across a stone wall. Pretty cheery, right? That's actually what Plato suggested in his Allegory of the Cave, found in Book VII of "The Republic," in which the Greek philosopher envisioned the ideal society by examining concepts like justice, truth and beauty. In the allegory, a group of prisoners have been confined in a cavern since birth with their backs to the entrance, unable to turn their heads, and with no knowledge of the outside world. Occasionally, however, people and other things pass by the cave opening, casting shadows and echos onto the wall the captives face. The prisoners name and classify these illusions, believing they're perceiving actual entities. Suddenly, one prisoner is freed and brought outside for the first time. The light hurts his eyes and he finds the new environment disorienting. When told that the things around him are real, while the shadows were mere reflections, he cannot believe it. The shadows appeared much clearer to him. But gradually, his eyes adjust until he can look at reflections in the water, at objects directly, and finally at the Sun, whose light is the ultimate source of everything he has seen. The prisoner returns to the cave to share his discovery, but he is no longer used to the darkness, and has a hard time seeing the shadows on the wall. The other prisoners think the journey has made him stupid and blind, and violently resist any attempts to free them. Plato introduces this passage as an analogy of what it's like to be a philosopher trying to educate the public. Most people are not just comfortable in their ignorance but hostile to anyone who points it out. In fact, the real life Socrates was sentenced to death by the Athenian government for disrupting the social order, and his student Plato spends much of "The Republic" disparaging Athenian democracy, while promoting rule by philosopher kings. With the cave parable, Plato may be arguing that the masses are too stubborn and ignorant to govern themselves. But the allegory has captured imaginations for 2,400 years because it can be read in far more ways. Importantly, the allegory is connected to the theory of forms, developed in Plato's other dialogues, which holds that like the shadows on the wall, things in the physical world are flawed reflections of ideal forms, such as roundness, or beauty. In this way, the cave leads to many fundamental questions, including the origin of knowledge, the problem of representation, and the nature of reality itself. For theologians, the ideal forms exist in the mind of a creator. For philosophers of language viewing the forms as linguistic concepts, the theory illustrates the problem of grouping concrete things under abstract terms. And others still wonder whether we can really know that the things outside the cave are any more real than the shadows. As we go about our lives, can we be confident in what we think we know? Perhaps one day, a glimmer of light may punch a hole in your most basic assumptions. Will you break free to struggle towards the light, even if it costs you your friends and family, or stick with comfortable and familiar illusions? Truth or habit? Light or shadow? Hard choices, but if it's any consolation, you're not alone. There are lots of us down here.
Early career
Born in China, Chang received his B.S. degree in 1941 from the National Jinan University in Shanghai before emigrating to the United States in 1947. He then earned his M.S. degree in organic chemistry in 1949 at Kansas State University and his Ph.D. in food science in 1952 at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He married his wife Lucy the same year he earned his Ph.D., and worked several years in the food industry before joining the faculty at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey in 1960.
Rutgers career
At Rutgers, Chang eventually rose to the position of Department Chair, where he served from 1977 to 1986. Writing over 100 research papers and earning 15 patents, he retired from teaching in 1988. He was also active in the American Oil Chemists' Society, Chinese American Food Society (CAFS) (President: 1975-6), and the Institute of Food Technologists.
Retirement
After his retirement, Chang worked as a consultant in the food industry and was involved in the successful technology transfer of food science with both China and Taiwan. He and his wife Lucy also established awards in Chang's honor both at the American Oil Chemists Society (AOCS) and the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT).
Death
Chang died in 1996. His papers were donated to the library at Rutgers.
Honors and awards
- AOCS Alton E. Bailey Award - 1974
- AOCS Supelco/Nicholas Pelik - AOCS research - 1979
- AOCS Stephen S. Chang Award - First awarded in 1991
- CAFS Professional Achievement Award - 1983 (First award winner)
- IFT Fellow - 1974
- IFT Nicholas Appert Award - 1983
- IFT International Award - 1989
- IFT Stephen S. Chang Award for Lipid or Flavor Science - First awarded in 1993
- The Chang Science Library was established in 1995 at Rutgers at the first floor of Foran Hall at Cook College to support research in agriculture, aquaculture, food science, ecology, and environmental science.
References
- Biography on Stephen S. and Lucy Chang
- Rutgers University Chang library description
- Rutgers University papers on Stephen S. and Lucy Chang: 1933-2001
- Chinese American Food Society award winners
- Chinese American Food Society past presidents
- American Oil Chemists Society Alton E. Bailey Award
- American Oil Chemists Society Supelco/Nicholas Pelik Award
- American Oil Chemists Society Stephen S. Chang Award
- Institute of Food Technologists award winners
- Institute of Food Technologists Fellows